Across the Universe the novelization
by Brittany Eckert
Summary: It's the movie, as a novel. Started off in one night of boredom and got totally taken away by it. Hope you like it as much as I like writing it!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

_Jude sat looking out at the ocean from the sandy beach. The weather was cold, but he hardly felt the wind touching his cheeks. He was lost… lost deep in a memory. In the water's waves he saw visions from his past, various places, people, but all of them centered around… That Girl._

_If he told his story, would anybody listen? It's a long story, of love, hate, pain, pleasure… But it was a story that needed to be told if to no one but the ocean itself…_

_His story was about a girl. The girl you want so bad it makes you sorry, still, you don't regret a single day. A girl…_

_His past flashes before his eyes in the crashing waves. He sees her, being pushed aside. He sees her being pulled away from him. He sees her turn to look at him, afraid, with her eyes like diamonds in the sky._

_His story begins so long ago, before he'd even left Liverpool. Before he'd ever met her. He'd crossed the Universe since then._

--

Lucy's chest pounded in excitement as she danced with her boyfriend, Daniel. She felt so risqué, dancing so close to him, but this was her senior year of high school, and she had earned this. Through their four years of high school, they'd always been the perfect couple. Even their names were hardly ever spoken without the other. Daniel-and-Lucy, Lucy-and-Daniel. Everyone knew they were destined to be together. A few years of college for Lucy, a few years in the Army for Daniel (there was a war on…) and then soon the two of them would be settling down for many years of quiet marriage.

But thoughts of the future weren't on Lucy's mind tonight. All she was thinking about was having Daniel hold her close and dance the night away. She put her gloved hands gently on his face. "Daniel," she whispered to him, even though she was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to hear her over the band on the stage. "I love you."

He grinned at her anyway, and took her swinging across the dance floor.

--

Sweat was pouring down Jude's back, despite the colder weather. The club was full and everyone was moving, pushed close against each other. His eyes trailed around some of the other girls dancing around the room. Molly pulled his face toward him and gave him a sultry half smile as they danced to the song, the band's loud music pounding around them. He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Tell me I'm the only one." She said to him. "And _then_ I might." She pushed him off her and continued to dance.

He gave her a smile and pulled her by the hands to the middle of the dance floor.

--

Daniel had borrowed his parent's car that night, for the dance and afterwards, used it to drive Lucy home. Instead of going right to her house though, he drove to a small secluded place, infamous for teenagers' hidden escapades. He leaned into her and began kissing her, a different kind of kiss then she'd felt from him before. He pressed on, leaning her back in her chair, kissing the side of her neck in a way that felt exhilarating.

"Lucy," he said, a kind of growl in his voice, and his hand fumbled forward to begin trying to unzip the back of her dress.

"Daniel!" She shrieked, suddenly pushing him back.

"Lucy," he looked at her with a slight desperation in his face. "Lucy, I'm leaving soon. Couldn't we before I left…"

Lucy had never imagined that she would be asked this sort of question before her wedding night, but now she stopped to consider. He was going to be gone soon, gone to the Army.

"It's not like we're not going to married anyway." He smiled at her, and her heart melted.

She closed her eyes and leaned against him, giving a small nod.

Daniel smiled and put his hands gently on her back, holding her close.

--

Jude held his arm around Molly, half to keep her close and half just for support. It had been a long night, and the sun was already starting to rise. He was half asleep already, and looking forward to his upstairs bed waiting for him.

"Who will take me out next week?" Molly asked him, "You'll be half way around the world."

Jude stopped walking and she turned around to look at him. Jude sighed inwardly. He'd known this conversation was coming for a while and knew he couldn't avoid it any longer.

"Well, it'd better not be Phil Sculley." He replied, trying to deflect with humor. She rolled her eyes and turned away from him, continuing to march forward.

"Oh come on." He ran to keep up with her and wrapped his arms around her waist, laughing. She couldn't help but let a smile cross her face. She loved him too damn much, was her problem.

--

Daniel and Lucy stood on her doorstep saying their last goodbyes for the night. She smiled up at him and flushed under their secret knowledge of what happened a few hours ago. It had been uncomfortable, and neither of them had been entirely sure what to do but they'd both had their first and it had been with each other. Besides, Daniel had assured her. They had years and years together to get it just right. Lucy had glowed with pride. That was as good of a proposal she could ask for. Now all she had to do was wait, and she could do that for him.

"I'll be back soon!" He insisted, giving her another kiss on the doorstep. "They give you a furlough after boot camp."

"And after that?" She asked, trying to keep from trembling under his touch.

He put his hands around her waist gently and answered her with a kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Jude heard the whistle meaning his day at work was finished. He put down his tools and lifted the heavy mask off his face, wiping his eyes. He really shouldn't have stayed out so late last night, and was paying for it now.

He had to work though. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the money he needed to go to America.

He stepped in the line of men, waiting to pick up their paychecks, all of them dressed the same with a cap over their head. Jude was excited though, his energy growing as he inched forward towards the front.

"Don't spend it all at once," the worker finally said when Jude reached the front, giving the same advice he did every time. "Last one for a while there, son!"

"Last one ever, sir." Jude replied, wanting to tell the world that he was finally going to be able to leave this place.

"I felt the same, at your age," He replied retelling an age old complaint. "I told meself, when I'm sixty-four, I'll be long gone from this place." He pushed his glasses up his nose to better read the paper he was holding. "But I'm still here." Finally decided it was Jude's money, he handed the paper over. Jude took it with a half smirk on his face. The teller could say whatever he wanted, there was no ruining Jude's mood at the moment.

"Move it along!" A voice shouted from behind him. "Some of us are thirsty and the pubs have been opened five minutes."

Jude laughed and exited the line, his check in his hand as the teller greeted the next person in line with a rough, "Hi Charlie."

As he began walking along the street, his hands in his pockets to protect against the cold air, Phil Sculley caught up to him and began walking next to him in time. "Are you going to miss this place?" He asked, playing with sarcasm, but Jude could tell he actually meant the question.

Jude kept walking forward. "Don't count on it, Phil." He parted ways, nodding at his friend and began walking the small streets towards home. Children played skipping rope on the sides and dogs barked at him, in recognition. Everyone knew you here.

He couldn't help but think about Phil's question as he walked. He sighed. Even as eager as he was to leave, he was sure he really was going to miss Liverpool, somewhere deep inside him. It had been his home for twenty years and although it had been a hard life, it had been his life all the same.

He opened his front door to see his mother, busy ironing, and felt a pang of guilt. His mother was one of the few people he hadn't told he was leaving, at least not exactly.

For one, she didn't know the real reason he wanted to go to America. He told her, it was just to see the sights, get a different taste of life. He had told her he was leaving eventually, when he'd saved up money for a ticket and passport.

Really, though, he was going to go search for his real father. A man he had recently found out to be an American who had been in the Army… had been stationed in Liverpool… Jude just had some questions about him he'd always wondered and had finally decided to get them answered.

And he wasn't going to be going exactly what people usually call… the honest way. He was going to be jumping ship and sneaking into America, without a passport. He really couldn't afford it at this point, but he knew he couldn't stand to wait unknowing any longer.

His mother hadn't been keen on the idea of him leaving. A useless waste of time, money, and energy, she had called it, but Jude knew most of her concerns were for losing him. They were the only family they'd ever had growing up. So Jude had told her a differently, that he was leaving possibly in months rather than in the next morning. When she woke up, he'd already be gone, and he wouldn't have to think about her worrying about his departure. He'd write from America… he'd explain that it was just something he had to do… she'd understand eventually.

He put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small kiss on her cheek in a moment of gentleness she wasn't used to. "I've ironed yer best shirts," She said, covering up her surprise.

Jude laughed. "I'll be shoveling coal in a furnace, Mum. I don't think I'll be wearing them." He said, referring to his work.

"Ye'll be wearing them when you go ashore in America."

A chill went down Jude's spine as he wondered if his mother had really figured out everything. "Yeah, well, that could be months from now."

"If ye'd wanted to see foreign life, couldn't yeh have signed up for the Mersey Ferry?" His mother put her hands on her hips as she watched him grab a few slices of bread and slather butter across them. "At least ye'd be home for yer supper every night."

Jude put the bread in his mouth quickly to avoid an answer and held his arms open for the folded laundry his mother offered towards him. He turned with them to go upstairs before the conversation could continue.

Upstairs, once he was sure he could hear his mother busy working at her sewing machine, he put the ironed shirts into a large backpack that'd he'd been slowly packing and then hiding in his closet for the last week. He glanced downstairs to see her get up at the sound of the tea kettle giving it whistle that it was finished boiling.

He climbed down the stairs slowly, giving himself a chance to really look the small house over as he snuck by his mother, busy in the kitchen. It seemed so unreal to him that he was going to be leaving, really leaving. Suddenly he felt a lot fonder about the place. It wasn't much, but it had always been home and he and his mother had worked hard to keep it that way.

He went around the corner and into his mother's room, quietly opening his mother's bottom drawer to her dresser. He'd discovered the secret inside it a few months ago when helping her put away laundry. He wondered if she hadn't hidden it so well on purpose. Still he never told her what he'd found.

A small tin box sat inside the bottom of the drawer. He pulled it our gently and set on top on the dresser with a quick glance behind him to make sure he was still unseen. From inside the tin box he pulled out two black and white photographs, both of his mother and a man in an American uniform. In the first, the two of them were posing together, grinning at the unseen photographer. They sat in the grass, and his mother was smiling happily and carefree. The second picture had been a candid, so touching a moment, it couldn't have been posed. His arms were around her softly as he was planting a kiss on her forehead. Jude held the two pictures in his hands as if afraid they would break if was too rough. Shaking his head, he quickly ran back up the stairs to add them to his packing.

--

Later that night, Jude had Molly pressed up against a brick wall, the both of them giving each other their last passionate goodbye kisses. Molly pulled away, sadly. "I sometime feel yer not telling me everything." She sighed.

"I just need a break from the yard, Molly." Jude said with traces of guilt. He'd also never told her his real reason for wanting to go to America. He hadn't told anyone. To be honest, it almost felt like weak, to admit his real reason, so instead he stuck to his idea that it was all just for a change. "I'll be back before you know it." He insisted.

"Or d'ye need a break from me?" Molly voiced an option that had been bothering her. "Is that what this is about?"

Jude laughed and pulled her close. "Come here."

She turned her face away as he came in close. "Believe me, I'll miss yeh. Yeh, know I'll be true."

Molly rolled her eyes, but a small smile slipped in. "Pull the other one."

"I'll write home to yeh everyday."

"You'd better!"

"I'll send all my loving to you in me letters so there's none left for any other girls, okay?"

Molly was smiling and back in his arms. "You bastard."


End file.
